Within most industries, it is important that there be provided some type of seal device which prevents fluids from leaking externally from an associated bearing housing or support, and which also prevents contaminates disposed in the environment surrounding the device from working themselves through the seal device into the bearing.
For use in situations of the above type, various types of sealing ring devices have been employed. Such sealing ring devices, sometimes referred to as "bearing isolators", typically employ a pair of relatively rotatable rings (i.e., a rotor and a stator) which are respectively fixed to the rotatable shaft and stationary housing. These relatively rotatable rings have a close fitting relationship to create a complex pathway therebetween, such as a labyrinth, to inhibit flow or movement of fluids or contaminates in either direction therebetween. While such devices have proven at least partially effective in selected use conditions, nevertheless one of the disadvantages of many such devices is the complex configuration of the rings, and the consequent cost of such devices. Also, many of these devices have been unable to prevent flow of fluids or contaminates therethrough to the desired degree. Further, many of these known devices, because of the manner of interfit and cooperation between the stator and rotor, have required that at least some parts be of split construction, thereby further increasing the manufacturing and assembly complexities.
While numerous sealing devices of the above general type have developed, exemplary embodiments of such devices are illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,524,124, 4,484,754, 3,897,072, 4,466,620, 4,572,517, 4,114,902, 4,022,479, 3,893,674 and British Specification No. 2 035 472A.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,034 as owned by the Assignee of this invention, also relates to a stator and rotor which cooperate to define a labyrinth therebetween so as to effectively restrict flow in either direction therethrough. While the device of this latter patent has proven desirable and effective in some use environments, nevertheless such device also provides less than optimum performance in some use environments, particularly under dynamic conditions.
Accordingly, the present invention relates to an improved sealing device known as a "bearing isolator" or "bearing protector", which device employs a stator ring fixed to the housing and surrounding a rotor ring fixed to the rotatable shaft and cooperating therewith to define a narrow labyrinth or pathway therebetween, which device is of improved design to simplify manufacture and assembly thereof, and which is more effective for preventing flow in either direction through the labyrinth, particularly under dynamic conditions, that is during rotation of the rotor.
In the improved bearing protector of this invention, as aforesaid, the stator and rotor are of a configuration so that one can be readily fit within the other solely due to relative axial movement therebetween, while at the same time each of the stator and rotor can be constructed as an integral continuous one-piece ring. The stator and rotor are axially secured in an assembled condition by a one-piece snap ring which is carried by the stator and resiliently distorts so as to partially pass axially over the rotor and then resiliently snaps inwardly into a groove in the rotor so as to become fixed to and rotate with the rotor. This snap ring projects outwardly into a radially enlarged annular collecting chamber formed within the stator and acts, when the rotor rotates, as a slinger ring so that contaminates which enter into the labyrinth from the outside come into contact with the slinger ring and are thrown outwardly to the bottom of the collecting chamber for discharge through a drain.
Other objects and purposes of the invention will be apparent to persons familiar with devices of this general type upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.